Ad Swaps, Solo Ads and Mailing Lists... BEWARE!

Many people have discovered they can build a business selling ads in the form of mailings if they have a good size list to offer.

At first glance, this seems to be a great way to build traffic; pay a little money get a guru to do a mailing for you to their list. You can make money selling your products and even grow your own mailing list at the same time. Brilliant!While this is very possible, beware. Here are the caveats:Scam #1 - Freebie ListsYou will probably see clicks and signups but many of these scammers build huge lists of freebie seekers (lowest class of marketing segment) and then resell these "Solo Ads" to people. They promise so many open clicks for your email and usually you can get some sign ups too. The problem is that the real value is to a marketer's BUYER list. It is easy to get freebie seekers to sign up but many of these people will not buy anything. Scam #2 - All Signups From One PlaceBe careful with deals from overseas areas. You will get sign ups to your offer but they are all seem to be from one place! More than likely the people you just signed up are sitting in "overseas sweat shops" and are paid a few pennies every time they join a list or do something related to this.Be wary of overseas list sharing or paid ads and if you see signups coming all from one IP address or geographical location, odds are you have been had and never do business with these people again.This has become big business and unsuspecting marketers, even the big names, fall for this scam all the time! The scammers are getting better with this scam as they are using software that rotates their IP's or multiple proxies to cover their tracks. If you do decide to try this make sure you do your homework on who is selling / swapping a list to. Look for reviews and reputable places where other marketers have reported on the success of the list they ran their ad with. Good marketers will make this information available if they are selling ads. If you get a reputable ad swap or buy keep in mind that you should consider removing the double opt in. I realize some people will say this is a risk when it comes to the spam laws but the double opt in will greatly reduce your sign ups during the ad run.Also make sure your offer for your mailing list is a really GOOD offer. It should be a good product or service that has real value. Another factor to watch is your opt outs. If you get sign ups then a few days or week later you get a bunch of un-subscribers, either your offer sucks or again you have been taken to the cleaners. Don't be a victim in this game, make sure you get the right knowledge from the start...